Unionist and Loyalist groups announce plans for 120-mile march
Wednesday, 16 June 1999 17:56
Unionist and Loyalist groups in the North have announced plans for a 120-mile march from Derry to Portadown to highlight what they claim is a lack of civil and religious liberties for Protestants. The so-called "Long March" is to begin on Thursday week in Derry and will take ten days to reach Portadown, arriving in time for the start of the contentious Drumcree Orange Order Parade on Sunday, 4 July.
The organisers of the Long March include leading members of the main Unionist parties and of the Orange Order. However, they claim that this is not just a Drumcree support march, but has the aim of restoring civil and religious liberties, which they say have been denied to Protestants in the North over the past thirty years. The Parades Commission is due to give its ruling tomorrow on whether or not the various sections of the loyalist Long March should be allowed to go ahead as planned.
